Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
With only about a month until the season opener for the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, one of the biggest prospects still continues to search for sponsorship to be able to run the full schedule.
“Right now, we’re still looking for that sponsorship for me to go run the Pinty’s Series,” Lapcevich told Race Time Radio earlier this month.
The plans were in place for Lapcevich to run in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series full-time after running six races last season, though a departure from the team’s primary sponsor put their plans on hold.
“It’s hardest part of racing,” he admitted. “I think what struck us is that we thought we were going to carry over with Tim Horton’s this season because we got the announcement so late. It was early January that we heard from them that they weren’t. We thought we were okay because we were in the new year and stuff. Things change. We sent out a lot of press releases and have talked a lot of people, but there’s always seems to be that bump in the road.”
If funding can be found, the teenager has proven that he can get the job done behind the wheel. In the six starts last year, he posted three top-10s, highlighted by a third place finish at Sunset Speedway after leading 45 laps. More impressively, he posted the ninth place finish at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park after starting at the rear due to missing qualifying as a result of other racing commitments.
“I felt really comfortable in the car,” he commented. “It was defiantly a new experience getting into those big NASCAR cars with the huge horsepower, but I felt really comfortable. I felt we ran some good races and had some strong finishes. I felt we had a couple finishes that weren’t the greatest that could’ve been better. But we learned from them. I think if we were to run the full season this year, we would either match those or better those results.”
Even with the plans uncertain right now, the team has been hard at work in the shop preparing for the season as Lapcevich says the cars are coming along pretty good.
“We’re working on the car in case we do find the sponsorship to go racing,” he said. “Other than that, the cars are coming along good and everything is just awesome.”
Lapcevich is also certain that if things don’t come together for the Pinty’s Series, he’ll be racing something this season, possibly in a Super Late Model, the APC Auto Parts United Late Models of Ontario Tour, or running a Late Model weekly at Sunset Speedway.
“Something is going to have to come together soon so that way we can be prepared and ready,” he said. “We’re going to have a NASCAR Pinty’s Series car ready to go just in case that sponsorship does pop up at the last minute and wants to help us get to the first race at least. But I think we need to figure out something real soon here.”
